Because all students in a school have the same aim of awakening, partaking in school activities, or third line of work, supports not just the school aims, but also the aim of the individuals. In fact, being together can potentially accelerate one’s work, since it provides ample opportunities that are not available when one works alone or in groups that discuss the work ideas.

For example, when working with others, one can see oneself more frequently, since other students serve as mirrors to oneself. In addition, they can provide photographs of one’s mechanics or simply alert one to one’s sleep, when one is gesticulating in the moving center or expressing wit. At the same time, the internal pressure increases as one tries not to express negativity and not to judge others. Knowing that the other person working with us in the same activity, or “octave”, say setting the dinner table or washing dishes, has the same aim of awakening like us, creates a nine-of-hearts connection that can defeat the individual lower selves in each student, as they wish to express themselves. From that point of view, working with others and toward a higher aim are necessary for one’s evolution.

Second line connection between students working in an octave is enhanced by school exercises. We mentioned trying not to gesticulate or express wit, but there are many more. These exercises are designed by the teacher to help inhibit lower-self expressions and bring out the king of hearts and essence-presence. A person working on self-remembering by himself would not be able to create such an environment to sustain the pressure necessary for awakening, so from one point of view a community of students is a necessary element of the work.

To take Ouspensky’s sly man analogy, as individuals, Fourth Way students work on all four centers at the same time, accelerating the work relative to just working on one center in the ways of the fakir, the monk, and the yogi. Being already a Fourth Way student, there are ways to accelerate one’s work even further. Primarily, by finding others who share the way, and moreover, finding a teacher, a school, an organization, which create a conscious environment that supports and enhances the work.

Apollo, the center of the Fellowship of Friends School, is a spiritual community where students live and work together in every aspect of life, supporting the school aim of promoting presence in its members. This is done by creating opportunities for students to work together in the garden, in the arts, and in other types of artisan work. The first, second, and third lines of work are interconnected through the expression of life at Apollo. The three lines support each other and accelerate one’s work. To some extent, our worldwide centers are smaller-scale expressions of the same concepts: students creating an environment that supports one’s first line work.

For more information on this subject, see also the various articles written by students of our school in our website, Fourth Way Today.